


Til human voices wake us

by swallowthewhale



Series: Lemon Dreams [42]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, alternate season 3, killer frost doesn’t take over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 11:37:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14496144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Cisco and Julian save Caitlin without releasing Killer Frost. The near miss gives Cisco a lot to think about.Post-318 what-if





	Til human voices wake us

Caitlin wakes up to a deep-set pain in her stomach, dulled by the fuzzy feeling of pain meds. Then she hears sounds, the steady beeping of a heart monitor, and voices from far away. She knows them but she can’t place them, angry low voices that she can’t understand. She blinks, closing her eyes immediately against the blinding white light of a familiar room. The med bay.

An explosion, she remembers, and Kadabra escaping. Cisco ate all of her strawberry Jello, and Julian helped her remove the shrapnel. Maybe that’s out of order, though.

“That is out of the question,” Cisco snaps from outside. “She is staying here.”

“She needs to go to the hospital,” someone else - Julian - says. “What if it happens again?”

“Then we’ll deal with it.” Cisco’s voice gets a little louder.

Caitlin tries opening her eyes again. Cisco’s standing in the doorway, and his face lights up when his eyes meet hers.

He rushes over. “Caitlin, oh my god, how do you feel?”

She grimaces.

“Yeah, yeah, I bet it hurts like hell,” Cisco says sympathetically, scrolling through the readouts on the screen next to the cot. “Do you want more pain meds?”

Caitlin shakes her head.

“Okay,” Cisco says, sitting on the edge of the bed and brushing his hand over her arm. “Okay. What do you need?”

Caitlin closes her eyes and latches onto his hand, breathing deeply through the pain until it subsides. “Water?”

“Sure,” Cisco says, and produces a water bottle from somewhere out of her sightline. He sticks a straw in and offers it to her.

Caitlin sips carefully, then settles back into her pillow. “What happened?”

“You flatlined,” Cisco says grimly. “We’re not really sure why. You’ll have to take a look at the new scans.”

Caitlin holds out a hand for the tablet.

“Nope,” Cisco shakes his head and puts the tablet away. “You literally just woke up. Rest a bit. You probably shouldn’t be diagnosing yourself anyway.”

Caitlin scowls. “I’ve done it before.”

“Yeah,” Cisco says dryly. “And being awake for your own surgery probably stressed your body out too much.”

“Fine,” she huffs. “Give me some more morphine, then, I’m going to sleep.”

Cisco smiles a little. “You got it, doc.” He leans forward and kisses her forehead and her eyes slip closed. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Cisco sits for a long time after Caitlin falls asleep with her hand in his, watching the blip of the heart monitor on the screen. He still feels rattled and only half-awake, like he’s drifting without an anchor. Caitlin’s hand anchors him; Caitlin anchors him. And he’d almost lost her, again. Cisco’s not sure he’s really prepared to admit what that means, yet, but he can admit that he would not survive losing Caitlin.

Cisco helps resettle Caitlin into her apartment after a couple days, and installs himself on her couch, ignoring her protests that she can take care of herself.

“You just had surgery,” Cisco says as he tapes down a new gauze pad over her stitches. “You’re on mandatory bed rest and to know you well enough to know you’ll do too much if I don’t keep an eye on you.”

Caitlin glares at him but grimaces when he gently pokes her side.

He gives her a meaningful look.

“I promise to rest,” Caitlin says.

“Good,” Cisco says cheerfully, standing. “I’ll be here to help.”

Caitlin rolls her eyes but she’s smiling a little and lets him tuck her into bed with the new TV he installed in her bedroom set to National Geographic.

Cisco leans against the doorframe. “Got everything you need?”

“Stay for a while?” Caitlin asks hopefully.

Cisco doesn’t bother to hide his grin. “Let me get my tablet.”

When he comes back, Caitlin is already asleep, and Cisco sits carefully on the other side of the bed, turning the TV volume down and pulling the covers up to her chin.

Cisco sets his tablet on his knees to watch her for a moment. He’ll help her get better, they’ll deal with Savitar, and then he’ll work out these new feelings. Or newly realized old feelings. Cisco tries saying it out loud, just to see what it feels like.

“I love you,” he whispers, unable to prevent himself from smiling.

Cisco bites his lip and flips open his tablet. Savitar first and then he can consider telling Caitlin. One thing at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" by TS Eliot


End file.
